Hypochondria

There is a theory that Charles Darwin was thought to have been a hypochondriac. There is also evidence that Dr. Samuel Johnson, also of England, was also a hypochondriac in his older days. Johnson was famous for a dictionary that he wrote and also because of a biography of him by Boswell.

Psychiatric Drugs

Ref. 1 gives the side effects and interactions for sertraline, which is a drug in the SSRI class. These side effects are very scary.

OCD

Hypochondria is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder (2). The patient is obsessed with his/her own body and imaginary diseases. Further information on OCD is given in Ref. 3.

Hypochondria

Ref. 4 discusses hypochondria. Psychological treatments and drugs are used. Unfortunately the SSRI drugs have bad side effects (1). However, the atypical antipsychotics also have bad side effects. Ref. 5 provides more information.

Orthomolecular Treatment

Ref. 6 favors orthomolecular treatment. This form of treatment was invented by the late Linus Pauling, but it was soon endorsed by other scientists (7, 8). The idea is to modify the intake of dietary constituents. Pauling later advocated this approach for other diseases including cardiovascular disease. Pauling's work was endorsed by Hoffer, a famous psychiatrist who is now also deceased (9).

"Dr. Crick, one of the three Nobel Winners for the discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule, stated that Linus Pauling had showed them how to solve the problem." Hoffer (9)

Among his many studies, Pauling advocated an orthomolecular approach to cancer (10).

Amino Acids

There are a number of amino acid theories in psychiatry. Refs. 11 & 12 give one of them, which is a food allergy theory. A theory for depression is given in Ref. 13. A theory for schizophrenia is given in Ref. 14.

Although Pauling was famous for his advocacy for vitamin C, he was also open to the use of other nutrients (15).

Symptoms of Hypochondria

The symptoms are described in Refs. 16 & 17. I searched in Pubmed Central for "biological markers" in "hypochondria" but found nothing. Research needs to be done on that topic. Information on Darwin is given in Ref. 18.

Conclusions

Much more research needs to be done on hypochondria. We know the symptoms well, but a cure is needed. My own theories on a possible treatment are given in Ref. 19. This could be called metabolic treatment, which is pretty much the same as orthomolecular treatment. Orthomolecular treatment is similar to nutrition. However, many nutritionists are not as into supplements as the orthomolecular people. I believe that supplements are valuable. Adelle Davis was a famous nutritionist that did believe in supplements.

Information on depression is given in Ref. 20. I believe that depression is a close relative of hypochondria. A patient can have both.

References

1. http://health.yahoo.com/depression-medications/sertraline/healthwise--d00880a1.html#d00880a1-sideeffects

2. Obsessive-compulsive spectrum of disorders: a defensible construct? David J. Castle and Katharine A. PhillipsAust N Z J Psychiatry. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2006 October 17. PMCID: PMC1613830 Published in final edited form as: Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2006 February; 40(2): 114-120.

3. Bebbington P. Epidemiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry. 1998;173 (Suppl 35):2-6.

4. Barsky AJ. Hypochondriasis and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 1992;15:791-801.

5. Fallon BA, Qureshi AI, Laje G, Klein B. Hypochondriasis and its relationship to obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 2000;23:605-616.

6.Pauling L: Orthomolecular Psychiatry, Science 160: 265-271, 1968.

7. Could Dietary Manipulation Modify Schizophrenic Behavior? SM Saleh, MD. JOURNAL OF ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE. Official Journal of the International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine. Volume 6 1st Quarter 1991.

8. http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1991/pdf/1991-v06n01-p023.pdf

9. http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1994/articles/1994-v09n03-p132.shtml

10. Cameron E, Pauling L: Cancer and Vitamin C. The Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine, 1979; updated and expanded edition, Camino Books, Philadelphia, 1993.

11. An Hypothesis for A Mechanism for the Pathogenesis of Psychomimetic Symptoms in Gluten/Gliadin Sensitive Individuals. CF Washburn,Jr, NMD; RC Reichert, ND. JOURNAL OF ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE. Official Journal of the International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine. Volume 5 3rd Quarter 1990.

12. http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1990/pdf/1990-v05n03-p175.pdf

13. http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1990/pdf/1990-v05n04-p210.pdf

14. http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1990/pdf/1990-v05n04-p223.pdf

15. http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1991/pdf/1991-v06n03&04-p135.pdf

16. Imagined illnesses can cause real problems for medical students. Roger Collier. CMAJ. 2008 March 25; 178(7): 820. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.080316.

17. Monosymptomatic hypochondriacal psychosis. M Talbot. Sex Transm Infect. 2003 October; 79(5): 425-426. doi: 10.1136/sti.79.5.425-a.

18. Darwin's illness revealed. A. Campbell and S. Matthews. Postgrad Med J. 2005 April; 81(954): 248-251. doi: 10.1136/pgmj.2004.025569.

19. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2781196/stress_and_tryptophan.html?cat=68

20. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2766318/abnormal_tryptophan_metabolism_in_depression.html?cat=68